The Villain's Story

Chapter 993: An Angel In Plain Sight.

Seattle was both a mess and a wonder to look at from above.

The city that had once stretched beneath the gray Pacific sky in a maze of glass towers, concrete avenues, and sprawling neighborhoods had been cleaved apart by years of war, and the rampage of a Demon Duke. Great scars ran through its streets, swallowing entire blocks beneath rubble and ash. Skyscrapers stood like fractured monoliths, their windows long since shattered, their exposed steel skeletons rusting beneath the rain. Whole districts had collapsed into tangled labyrinths of concrete, twisted metal, and overgrown vegetation.

And yet, from the height Alan viewed it from, it had an unsettling beauty to it.

Rainwater had gathered in the wounds of the city, transforming broken streets into dark, reflective canals. Moss and ivy crawled over abandoned buildings, softening their brutal silhouettes with verdant tendrils. Trees had erupted through cracked highways and parking lots, their canopies spilling between ruins as though nature were patiently reclaiming what humanity had abandoned. Surprisingly, there was a lot more normal vegetation than Alan suspected.

The number of monsters within the city was… unsettling, as well. With a quick use of Dragon Eyes, Alan confirmed that more than half the monsters in the city had been tamed by the Demonic Residents. Half of those remained underground, trapped in cages. He had heard Seattle was involved in monster and slave trading, but he was surprised the scope was this big.

The survivors, or rather, the usurpers had turned the ruins of the city into settlements, the ruins of buildings were transformed into fortified houses. The rooftops had become gardens, and large parts of land had been cleared for farming. However, the truth remained…

The ruins of the city depicted a corpse adorned with flowers, the aftermath of a Demonic Duke leading his army into the world, his first conquest being the city below. The defenders had tried to defend the people, but ultimately.

Almost everyone living the city had died during the conflict, most in gruesome ways. Afterwards, the invaders and heinous criminals had made it their home, and twisted it to their ways.

There were slaves, barely fed, working on many things. Alan genuinely struggled to see them due to how thin they were. Other than that, some monsters were also involved in labor. There was not a single demonic human in view, however. They were all hidden in their houses, or in the vast underground ‘prison’.

“Haha.”

Alan laughed as he found out that all of them were staring at the sky. It was kind of cute watching them cower in fear through Dragon Eyes. The ‘weakness’ almost compelled him to make an example of them.

“Woah, got to keep that pride in check.”

He quickly shut down those thoughts. The pride inherent within his being forced dark thoughts upon his being, ones he would make sure not to be tainted by!

Alan was firm on sticking to his promise. Unless the idiots hiding underground didn’t make any moves, he was planning on doing the same. He didn’t want to deal with annoyances.

That was, until he ‘felt’ something. All of a sudden, Alan came to a sudden halt in midair, confusing the carrier behind him, and terrifying the people below. He received calls from the carrier, which he promptly ignored.

“Where are you?”

He questioned, confusing the people listening to his voice on the intercom. The convoy became alert, with everyone in the carrier grabbing their weapons. Alan looked to his left, finding nothing.

But when he looked to his right, specifically on top of his shoulder… He saw an angel. A small woman maybe the size of his finger staring up at him. Her eyes were like the brightest gold, and although she wore the plain white robe of most angels, also known as Celestials, she had a pair of golden, dragon like wings behind her. On her head lay the most beautiful crown of horns Alan had ever seen.

Better than his own, of Valus, Of Kulak, and similar or equal to Lanesha’s. Only Ariel’s crown of horns surpassed this one.

“Well… this is a surprise.”

He muttered, staring at the little woman that had materialized on his shoulder. She had a strange pout on her face, and pointed down towards the city. Alan was flabbergasted, and quickly reached out to Valus and Kulak.

‘It’s happened.’

He said, waiting for the two Supreme Beings to respond as he focused more on the angel on his right shoulder. He had never expected his Celestial Blood would awaken first, even less in a version he hadn’t expected at all.

Although Alan’s physical composition was mainly that of a Dragon and a God Beast, along with some demonic aspects, a core part of his soul was made from the soul of a former Supreme Being, A literal princess of the Dragon Race, Alearia, who had the hots for Aranus.

The first victim of Lapsus as well, the cruelest thing the Abyssal Conscience had done to Aranus. She was a major part of Alan’s soul, and [Dominatus] willingly fought against the effects of Lapsus to keep it that way. He hadn’t thought his Celestial features would surface before his demonic, considering the state they were in.

Also… she was kind of his mother? Maybe that was why [Dominatus] strongly fought against Lapsus to keep her intact?

It was a pleasant surprise, but he had no idea as to what the ‘Mini’ Alearia wanted, she walked up to his neck and began punching it. After he paid close attention to her, she pointed to the city below.

“…What do you want me to do?”

He asked, but received no response. The little angel simply kept punching his neck, and maybe biting the collar of his shirt. It was barbaric, totally unlike an angel. Regardless, Alan lowered his head, looking at the city.

[What’s the matter?]

Alan pressed the communicator in his ear and asked Ryan.

“Can you see he- or rather, this?”

He pointed to his right shoulder, and Ryan asked to confirm, confused.

[See what?]

‘As expected, nobody can see her but me? Can the Supremes see her?’

No, we can’t.

The response came quickly, Valus had finally responded to him. He quickly followed up.

What happened? How is your Celestial Bloodline expressing itself?

He asked, immensely curious. Alan had been warned by Valus before that aspects of Demonic and Celestial existence may flare up when certain situations require it. This had more to do with the fact that he was apparently ‘royalty’ of both. However, even the Supreme Dragon had stressed that his demonic blood would awaken first.

Both of them hadn’t even considered his Celestial Blood to awaken at all. Both were under the impression that his demonic blood, to which the origin was Aranus and the Abyss, would always awaken first. Valus was also fairly certain his demonic blood would keep his Celestial Blood in check.

However, fate had it’s ways. His Celestial Blood had awakened first, confusing both him and the Supreme Dragon who was apparently called ‘All-Knowing’.

‘It’s… OUCH!’

What happened?!

The angel suddenly bit his ear, causing Alan to swerve in the air before barely regaining his balance. The angel had reacted severely to the word ‘it’, causing Alan to quickly change his choice of wording.

‘She has taken the form of Alearia, or at least, I think this is her. A miniature woman, the size of my finger on top of my right shoulder. She has the form of… Alearia.’

He quickly described her features to the Supreme Dragon, however, Valus remained silent on the other end. He didn’t respond for a long while, leaving Alan stranded alone, dealing with the barbaric angel.

She had now resorted to kicking his neck, after she was tired of that, she jumped up to his head, grabbed strands of his hair, and jumped down, right in front of his eyes. She kept pointing down with her head, leaving Alan confused.

[Is something the matter? The convoy is getting restless.]

He didn’t respond to Ryan, noting how the man failed to see anything at all. The actual form of the angel, he understood. But the fact that he didn’t make a compliment on the wild state Alan’s hair and the collar of his shirt had suddenly gotten into… Alan was confused.

Alan could understand if no one could see the little angel, but not even the effects of her existence? There was bite mark on his ear, his collar was ruined, and even his hair was all ruffled up, with two thick bundles of it in front of his very eyes, the same ones the angel was grabbing onto.

Of course, Ryan could also have just decided to ignore it. He simply just didn’t mention it, perhaps due to the tension he was feeling right now. When Amanda and Howard also bombarded him with questions, he made up an excuse.

“The mana in the air is weird. It’s behaving unusually, almost as if-“

Almost as if on cue, Alan erected a shield around him and the convoy, noticing a spell, along with a few artillery rounds making their way towards him. They crashed into the shields soon enough, failing to leave even the smallest scratch.

Well, it seemed that his stillness in the air had provoked the criminals beneath him.